Reviews of what I'm reading. Mostly in the Horror genre, but you never know.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Review: Hell Cat of the Holt - by Mark Cassel

3 of 5 Stars Review copy

Hell Cat of the Holt is a stand alone Shadow Fabric mythos novella. If you're like me, you may not be familiar with the term holt. A quick visit to Merriam-Webster provides us with this definition. Holt: a small woods : copse.

Ghosts, big cats, little cats, Shadow Fabric, Pippa (the clairvoyant artist), a witchblade, and more. For me, that was part of the problem with Hell Cat of the Holt. It seemed to lack focus.

The writing was rich and colorful...

“The men have been taken through the Fabric,” she said. This time her voice was stronger, clearer. Muffled though, behind the scarf. “For the Construct.” I was about to ask what she meant, when Leo interrupted. “A demon is building a construct?”“Yes,” Pippa answered him. “It’s using the flesh of those men,” Leo explained, seeing my expression, “to build a vessel to walk the earth again.” After reading Hell Cat of the Holt I had little idea of what I had just read. I'm convinced I might have enjoyed this piece more if I had read other stories in the Shadow Fabric mythos. There is a bonus short story called The Artist and the Crone which takes pace prior to the events in the main novella.

Although I can't readily recommend this novella, others have enjoyed it and that may be your experience as well.

Hell Cat of the Holt is published by Herbs House and is available in both paperback and e-book formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

From the author's bio - Mark Cassell lives in a rural part of the UK where he often dreams of dystopian futures, peculiar creatures, and flitting shadows. Primarily a horror writer, his steampunk, dark fantasy, and SF stories have featured in several anthologies and ezines. His best-selling debut novel The Shadow Fabric was closely followed by the popular short story collection Sinister Stitches and are both only a fraction of an expanding mythos of demons, devices, and deceit.